Picture Perfect vs. Reality

When it comes to life we all know what we think is perfect. We know what our perfect dream house is and how to perfect decorate it. We may even have magazine photos picked out as to how we want our rooms to look. We know if we want kids and how many we want, or animals even.

But what happens when our reality isn’t our picture perfect life we envisioned? That’s what happened to me and you know what, my vision of picture perfect has changed.

This is a real time picture of my dining room and the room right next to it, which is my daughter’s play room. Go figure, the toys don’t just stay in the toy room, but she does a pretty good job. Believe it or not though, the “reality” is better than the picture perfect moment!

I have known what I wanted in my dream house for a while now. I had all my decorations and furniture planned before we even moved. Decorating the new house was one of the things I looked forward to the most when it came to the new house. Sometimes things don’t go our way, and in this case, I just have to take time and wait to be able to afford all the things I want to decorate my house with, and also take it slow when it comes to buying things so I don’t get too many things at once.

Because I knew this I am not too upset at the fact that I haven’t been able to decorate my house. One thing has bothered me though. I am a horrible housekeeper. I always have been because I hate cleaning! I vowed that when we moved into the new house I would do better, and while I have been doing a little better, I haven’t been doing as good of a job as I would like. There are times when I just don’t feel like fighting with my daughter to put her toys away. There are days when I just don’t feel like moping or I don’t have the time to clean the bathrooms. I am getting better because I am trying to get on a schedule, but until I have a routine I can keep up with I may just have to adjust my perception of picture perfect.

In the meantime, I will just remember a couple of things my grandmother always told me. The first is that it’s clean dirt. Toys, dishes, and laundry are what she always called “clean dirt”, meaning they are things that can wait. My family isn’t living in filth, there isn’t mold and trash all over the place, so if dishes go untouched, laundry goes unfolded, and toys aren’t put away, it’s perfectly fine. The other thing she says is that it makes a house feel like a home. In the end who wants a picture perfect house with sparkling floors and perfect furniture and toys that are not seen. All those little imperfections make my house feel lived in and that’s what makes is a home. If anyone has an issue with toys on the floor, well you know where you can shove your opinion.

In the end I know there will come a day when my daughter will stay in her room all day and never bring a toy into my living room. Then one day she won’t even be in my house anymore and I will miss the messes. Right now as I look at the toys strung throughout my house that we will have to pick up in a few hours I wonder if that will ever be possible, but I know that one day I will look at my bare floors and picture a time when they were covered.

Has your idea of picture perfect changed since having kids? If so, how?